Can't Let Go by Michelle Brewer Page A

I don’t really like my job all that much.”  It was the first time she’d ever spoken the words aloud.
    “Then why stay?”  he asked.  There was no judgment in his tone.  Just simple curiosity.
    “Because I need it.”   She turned to him, hidden behind the tinted glass of the sunglasses, but still searching for his eyes.  “Hayley called it my way of rebelling.”  Logan chuckled, shaking his head.  She almost felt relieved, as if a small bit of weight had been lifted from her chest.
    “Hayley knew all about that, didn’t she?”  Abby nodded, cracking a very slight smile.  It felt nice to have someone to talk to.
    “That she did,”   Abby agreed with him, glancing away again.  After a moment, she continued on, shrugging her shoulder, suddenly overwhelmed by a longing for some sort of emotional connection.   “Really, though?”  She lifted her eyes once more so that she could meet his.  “It’s just something that I can actually have a say in.  I feel like—like I’ve never had control over one thing in my life.  Except this.”   When their eyes met, she knew he understood her.  She could see it in his eyes—a quiet sadness for the girl he’d fallen in love with all those years ago.
    “You’re a strong woman, Abby.”  He spoke.  “I don’t have to have seen you every day for the last six years to know that.”  Logan looked away for a moment, as if ashamed of himself, before returning to her eyes.  “If you’re not happy, you’ll change it.  One day, you’ll realize you’ve got a lot more control than you think.”
    They held eyes for a long moment before Abby turned away, her heart hammering loudly in her chest now.
    Why did Logan have to have so much faith in her?  Why did he have to make her feel as if he was the only person in the world who could understand her?  She sighed, turning to look at the house, her hand resting on the door handle. 
    It was a nice house—smaller, but it was big enough for Hayley and Blake to start a family.  Hayley had planned on moving somewhere down the line, or maybe building on.  Abby remembered how thrilled Hayley had been when she called with the news that Logan had graduated—her very own personal architect! 
    “You ready?”  His voice startled her, but she nodded, pulling on the handle and letting herself out.  Logan came to stand at her side, the two staring up at the house—different memories flashing through each of their minds.  Each had spent some time here with their friends—each had their own laughs and smiles. 
    Abby took a deep breath before she stepped forward, leading the way toward the house.  Logan followed behind her, and Abby was grateful to have him there with her.  When they reached the door, she pulled out the spare key Hayley had insisted she keep, even though she was on the other side of the country, unlocking the door.  She closed her eyes for a moment, wondering what she would find waiting on the other side of the door. 
    Her eyes watered instantly as she stepped across the threshold and looked around.  A jacket hung on the back of a dining chair—a to-do list on the refrigerator.  Pictures hung every where—photos of the scenic beauties of the places they’d been, of the people they cared about, of themselves.  To each picture, a memory was attached for Abby and Logan—if not a personal memory, then one that had been related to them. 
    “We’ll have to pack all of this up,”   Abby realized as she looked around, the tears blurring her vision. 
    “We have time.”  Logan was trying to reassure her.  “Come on, let’s just get what we came for.  We don’t have to stay.”  Abby nodded, following Logan toward the back of the house, where the master bedroom was located.  She tried not to look around too much—tried not to notice that the bed was unmade, that a book sat open on the nightstand.  She tried to ignore all of the small details that revealed that only two days